Stewart, who broke his tibia and fibula, had a preliminary procedure to stabilize and clean the injury Tuesday in Iowa. He was moved to North Carolina where a specialist inserted a metal rod inside the tibia on Thursday.

SHR competition director Greg Zipadelli said immediately after the race at Watkins Glen International that the team was expecting their co-owner and star driver to be released within the next 24 hours.

“That’s good, because it means everything is going good,” Zipadelli said. “It looked like it was this morning. Had a good night (Saturday night).”

Max Papis filled in for Stewart at Watkins Glen and finished 15th. Stewart, meanwhile, saw his streak of 521 Sprint Cup starts end as he dropped six spots to 17th in the points standings and is expected to miss significantly more time.

Zipadelli said Stewart-Haas had not made a final decision on which driver to put in the No. 14 car next week but said the team had “two pretty good options.” The car’s primary sponsor next week is Mobil 1.

“We’ve got a few minor things to work out in the morning, just to make sure,” he said. “We’ve got to look at weather, we’ve got to look at some things. We’re waiting on getting with our sponsors and making sure they’re all on board with what we’re doing.”

The reference to weather could mean Zipadelli has reconsidered using a double-duty driver who would commute between Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Mid-Ohio and the Cup event in Michigan.

On Friday, Zipadelli dismissed the idea of using a Nationwide driver for next week because he wanted someone who could focus strictly on the No. 14 car without having to juggle schedules in two locations.

But after Sunday’s race, Zipadelli said using a Nationwide driver at Michigan is something “we’ve looked at for sure — for there and until (Stewart) comes back.”

“Next week is the hardest one to make work (because of the schedule),” he said. “We’re going to wait until the last minute. A lot of things unfolded yesterday and today, so I just want to make sure we make the right decision with the best options.”

Zipadelli said a decision on the Michigan driver would be made Monday by noon and the team hoped to know by Wednesday which driver it would use until Stewart returns.